Season preview

The timing of the contest means that, for the first few weeks at least, it takes a back seat to other tournaments which are already in full swing.

Brazil's bafflingly complex season began in late January with a plethora of state championships, a unique feature among major soccer nations.

These finished on Sunday but the respective champions, such as Santos in Sao Paulo, Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro, Atletico Mineiro in Minas Gerais and Gremio in Rio Grande do Sul, have barely finished celebrating.

Meanwhile, eight teams were this week involved in the quarter-finals of the Copa Brasil knockout tournament which rewards the eventual winners with a place in next year's South American Libertadores Cup.

The Libertadores itself, South America's equivalent of the Champions League, has just entered the knockout stages, stealing the attention of five Brazilian teams -- Santos, Sao Paulo, Flamengo, Parana and Gremio.

In European countries, the first day of the national championship heralds the start of the new season and is a big occasion.

But in Brazil, the abundance of other competitions means there is no such build-up. In fact, many teams may field reserve teams in the first few rounds while they have other matters on their plate.

Even before the competition has started, there have already been 14 coaching changes this year at the 20 first division clubs, two of them this week with Levir Culpi and Geninho leaving Atletico Mineiro and Goias respectively.

Defending champions Sao Paulo, who are at home to Goias on Saturday, and Santos, who visit newly-promoted Sport Recife on Sunday, are the clear favourites in a field of mainly unknown quantities.

Santos are coached by former Real Madrid and Brazil coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo, who has already won the competition five times with four different clubs -- Palmeiras, Corinthians, Cruzeiro and Santos themselves.

The club also boast former Bayern Munich and Brazil midfielder Ze Roberto, who has been in inspired form since being given a roaming role by Luxemburgo.

There are few other big names in a competition consisting of players who still have not been signed by a European club, those who have come back to finish their career and those not considered good enough.

Atletico Mineiro, Internacional, Gremio, Flamengo and Botafogo are the other big-name clubs who could mount a challenge.

In recent years, the competition has suffered from the export of the most promising players at an ever-younger age.

Internacional's 17-year-old forward Alexandre Pato and Gremio's 20-year-old midfielder Lucas are among the two big hopes still playing in their homeland. Few believe they will still be around when the championship ends in December.

At the other end of the scale, former Brazil striker Romario is still with Vasco da Gama at the age of 41 and is expected to keep playing until he scores his 1,000th goal.

Romario is currently on 999 according to his own tally and Vasco have already decided he will only play in matches at the Maracana stadium, where he dreams of reaching the milestone.

Vasco have been knocked out of two competitions since Romario reached the 999 mark and most hope he can quickly score the 1,000th and make a dignified exit.